05 - Easy Come, Easy Go

The sword came down faster than Maya could parry, she brought up her axe at the last nano-second. The shock of the strike caused her stumble back, pain flaring up her arms. A booted foot slammed into her exposed chest, turning the stumble into a full on fall.

As she hit the floor, Maya rolled with the fall narrowly escaping the sword that slammed down upon the deck where she had been. The reprieve was momentary as she tried to orientate herself only to feel another booted foot slam into her lower back. She arched and cried out, staggering forward, pain blossomed throughout her spine and sent sharp stabbing pains down her leg.

The flat of the sword slapped against her right arm, sending more pain through the limb. Maya reflexively released her axe and the weapon clattered to the ground. She spun, summoning a sword into her off hand, only to come face to face with the sword inches away from her neck.

“Dead,” Asoltolia said.

Maya panted and winced, staring cross eyed at the sword. The razor sharp point, a mono-molecular blade; sharp enough to cut through most armor, didn’t waver as it was held near her.

“Well, that makes about twenty now,” Maya said, forming a chair and collapsing into it.

“It is impressive,” Asoltolia said, taking a seat that Maya formed for her. She was breathing lightly and took a long sip of a bottle of water. They had been sparing for the last hour, the [Mercenary General] taking it easy on Maya. “Someone with your levels is not stronger.”

Maya grunted. “I handle myself well with rogue AIs,” she replied.

“That is the issue, I suspect. You have not fought SIL before, it is more… different? Then again, I have never fought rogue AIs before.”

“I thought you used rogue tech?” Maya asked.

“Ah, not for the mercenary business,” Asoltolia replied. “That is more Pegarios’ smuggling operation.”

Maya had to chuckle at the matter-of-fact way she talked about it.

“So, what’s your recommendation?” Maya asked.

Asoltolia was quiet for a moment as she looked Maya over. “You are… awful,” she said. Maya sighed. “You have levels, but you have no Skills, no Abilities that can help you. You fight like a low-grade warrior, with inherent brawn and charging in. With your levels and what I can figure of your Physical stats, you’re about a low mid-grade warrior, perhaps level 40 or so. But you don’t have any martial skills that would allow you to fight faster, longer, or any other mana driven powers that would make you very dangerous. I suppose that can be augmented with enchanted items, but even with a powerful weapon and armor, you’d never be able to truly face a dedicated high-grade warrior.”

Maya sighed again. She knew all of this. With her mana channels being Seared, she couldn’t channel the mana to use Active Skills. It all came down to channeling mana, the growth in occupational abilities, the ability to enchant, to use actual magic; she was unable to do any of those things.

“But, since you control this Cage, I don’t think you have to truly worry about being attacked,” Asoltolia replied. “You can use this Cage as a weapon, from what I heard you defeated several Tier 2 rogue AIs using the Cage as a weapon.”

“Yeah. It nearly killed me, but I managed. Now I’m connected to this Cage more than usual. It’s like an extension of me,” Maya said.

“Then you are blessed,” Asoltolia said. “You have this amazing tool that can be used to defend and to create. Many would lust after such a thing, for the power it represents and the opportunities that one has available to them.” The woman looked around the room Maya had created, a large sparring room. “If I were to obtain such a machine, I would be unstoppable. My enemies would quail and even the Sword of the Universe would hesitate to go against me.” The [Mercenary General] grinned at Maya.

“Well, I suppose my dreams are set at a lower bar,” Maya said. “I just want to sell stuff to my people to ensure that they survive the Tier 2 change of our planet.”

“Ah, that would be a joy to see,” Asoltolia said. “I have never been to a Tier 2 world. I hear one can level and gain such gifts from the System on those newly Integrated universes. My soldiers would level so quickly on that kind of world. Haltor’s World was fine, but it was a Tier 1 world mostly used to harvest resources, not challenge true warriors.”

Maya nodded. She hadn’t actually tested if she could open two different doors and allow someone to walk between them, creating a sort of teleportation, but since she had gained Dimensional Threshold V she was hesitant to actually do it. Her instincts told her that it would be a bad idea and she was more than wiling to trust those instincts.

Tender appeared through a door.

“The material have arrived,” he said.

“Ah, finally. It’s been nearly two days!” Asoltolia remarked, rising to her feet.

Maya grinned at the words. Asoltolia had been honest in her claim that she had warehouses filled with low-grade weapons and amor. Maya had seen the inventory lists and specs of most of the weapons and armor she had. The good thing was that Peg’s people were roughly the same size as humans and humanoid. Though with their clawed feet, finding the right kind of boots was going to be an issue.

Thankfully Yosi and Nan had come up with a solution to rectify that problem. Maya left the hard thinking work to them and spent nearly two standard days just talking and learning about the Union that Asoltolia lived in.

The [Mercenary General] had decided to take Maya’s offer to relax in the Cage while her people rushed to get the equipment from their warehouses. As a mercenary, Asoltolia had all her gear and equipment ready to be moved at a moment’s notice. That meant it would take about five to six hours for the items to be ready to be loaded and headed out to whatever location their next job was.

That translated to nearly two standard days within the Cage. Time enough for Maya to take things easy and talk with the woman. The Astronauts were also very interested in discussing everything from her culture, her people, and the civilization that was the Union.

Roci and Tender on the other hand were working on securing more items from the Trade Network. The competition of who would make more selling had pushed them to find the best deals in the Trade Network. Although Asoltolia claimed they were high priced junk, there were many items that they would need if they planned on expanding. More manufacturing machinery, processing machines, and even component printing machines. The latter was something that interested Maya.

Everything she had built, everything she had created was all using salvage. Every component, every rack, and machinery was either purchased or made from salvage they had refurbished. If she could being making her own components, then that could speed up some of the bottlenecks they were beginning to come across in production.

They made their way to the loading area, Maya slapping Tender on the shoulder.

“You wanna fight Asoltolia? She’s never fought rogue AIs before.”

“I have seen what she is able to do,” Tender said, eyeing the woman. “I am only mid-grade and I fear I won’t be a challenging combatant.”

“Perhaps when you level?” Asoltolia replied.

“Perhaps.”

There was bustling activity as the futuristic forklifts began moving into the Cage. Maya had expanded the threshold to encompass the entire wall of the cargo area that Pegarios had set aside for them. It was wide enough to allow five of the forklifts to enter and also exit while another five entered.

Yosi was directing where the items were to go. She had stepped up a lot in the intervening months to handle most of the inventory and items they had. Maya was glad someone was taking care of it, between the rogue AI attacks, the salvaging, producing tesseracts, recharging the Cage, and their own limited production of items, she barely had enough time to sleep anymore.

Roci and the Astronauts were unpacking a crate of armor and having Yuri put it on. They adjusted the armor to fit him and in a few minutes he stood barefoot before them as they went over it with a fine tooth comb. A moment later Roci summoned a blunt weapon and George took the first swing at Yuri.

Maya watched in amusement as Hanna, Inez, and Zoya all joined in pummeling Yuri with gleeful expressions. They spent several minutes whacking at him before they stopped and allowed him to get back to his feet. He pulled off his helmet and grinned, saying that he barely felt the strikes.

Homazarmo Light Combat Armor - low-grade, Tier 1

Kinetic damage reduced

Energy damage reduced

Dual layer hardening gel to reduce melee damage

“All low-grade armor and weapons are nearly the same,” Asoltolia stated as she watched Maya. “There is not much difference in combat armor and a hunter’s gear, which is what I suspect you are looking for. Once you reach mid-grade, then speciality and the right enchantments and gear are what make you dangerous.”

“I understand,” Maya replied.

“For a low-grade soldier, it’s your Skills that keep you alive. When you reach mid-grade, it’s the enchantments that compliment your Skills that make you dangerous, and when you’re high-grade it’s your enchantments that keep you alive while your Active Skills buff your soldiers.”

“So you have skills that make your soldiers fight better?” Maya asked.

“Of course. Everyone in high-grade does,” Asoltolia looked at Maya. “Usually.”

Maya thought on that for a moment. She should have had high levels in some kind of occupational ability, that would translate to obtaining a lot of mid to high grade Skills as she leveled the Abilities. Again it was the inability to channel mana that made her weak and unable to do much beyond the most basic of things. She hadn’t even leveled to [Merchant] level 10 even with all the trading and selling she had done with Asoltolia and her people. She was stuck at level 9.

Channeling essence mana was the only recourse she could think of. But discussions with Asoltolia proved that such knowledge was highly guarded in the Union and Maya suspected everywhere else. Power was power and there were plenty of SIL who didn’t want others to become more powerful than they were, therefore knowledge was expensive and tightly controlled.

“Ah, this is what I was explaining to your friends, George and Yuri,” Asoltolia said as a forklift arrived bearing a car sized machine.

The Astronauts joined them as Asoltolia touched a screen and the shell of the container clamshell open to reveal a matte black satellite. Maya hd talked to Asoltolia about their need to create a communications network on their planet and she had the machines necessary for it. Communications were paramount to any mercenary force when they were working on planets. She had scores of ready to use satellites that could be deployed over battlefields.

Revvena Class V Stealth Satellite - mid-grade, Tier 1

Surveillance, Communications, GPS, Environmental, Combat Overwatch, and Defense Coordination.

Class IV Everlast Mana Charger

Condition: 99 percent

Power: 99 percent

Operational Lifespan: 1 day, 4 hours

Operational Maintenance: 399 days, 26 hrs

“You build these?” Maya asked, peering at the satellite.

“Dianarios and her team make them,” Asoltolia stated. “Every House needs their own engineers, you can’t trust someone to have control over your communications and information network, unless you want to be wiped out.”

Maya looked at Asoltolia. “Should I not buy these?”

The woman laughed. “No. I have no quarrel with you or seek to destroy this relationship we are building.”

Maya nodded as the Astronauts looked over the machine. There were more forklifts arriving, carrying more of the satellites. Maya had ordered ten, more than enough to cover Earth in a comm and spy network according to George and Hanna.

She looked at the satellites and felt the twenty million credits drawn from her. They were needed, but the satellites were very expensive, even with Asoltolia being kind and lowering the purchase price of some older models she wasn’t using anymore. Maya sighed and handed the woman her credit disc. Asoltolia didn’t say anything and took it, a slight smile on her face.

It was because she was making so much money off of Maya that betrayal was on the back burner. Maya wasn’t foolish enough to completely trust the woman, she was after all a product of culture that warred with itself and where Houses were in constant battle against other Houses and their own brach members.

Maybe one day when she was rich enough. Perhaps by then Maya would have been able to unlock the essence mana channeling.

The loading took another six hours of Cage time, where it was a rushed job on the other side. Maya took the opportunity to peruse the inventory lists as Yosi and Nan adjusted a boot to fit Yuri and tested its effectiveness. After a few trial and errors, they managed to shape it enough for him to walk comfortably.

Another twenty million credits cleared out all of Asoltolia’s stock of low-grade weapons, armor, and various machines. She had even given them a forklift and some minor low-grade defense turrets they used in their bases. There was a mountain of items that they received as Asoltolia also used industrial dimensional storage containers to hold a lot of her equipment and although she couldn’t drown a continent in material, she had more than enough to equip most modern armies with enough weapons and gear.

Asoltolia got the better end of the deal. Maya had spent forty million in equipment, with an additional fifteen million via the Trade Network. The selling of the enchantments had netted her thirty nine million and selling more items to Asoltolia and Pegarios had netted them another twenty million. It seemed all the credits were just going back and forth between them. But sadly Asoltolia wasn’t willing to part with the additional twenty million Maya had paid her. There were still expenses that needed to be covered on her end and soon.

She had been richer than she had ever been in her life. With nearly sixty million credits to spend and now as she looked at her remaining balance it stood at just under five million.

Easy come, easy go.

Five million was still a lot of credits. Maya figured she could make at least thirty million if she sold all the gear and items she had purchased from Asoltolia, but the Trade Network items were for the RSH production.

“If you’re looking for low grade defenses, I know a woman,” Asoltolia said. “They require a twenty five percent down payment to begin production.”

“Any good?” Maya asked.

“They are well renown. I use their turrets when defending my bases,” she replied.

Maya handed Asoltolia a two million credit disc. Down to three million now.

“Easy to use, mass produced, and able to fend off most mana mutations,” Asoltolia replied, making the disc vanish. “Give me a standard week and I’ll have more information.”

Maya nodded. Suddenly feeling exhausted.

The rest of Asoltolia’s people finished loading and with a few handshakes and promises to return in a standard week, Maya finally closed the threshold with them.

“Interesting people,” George said.

Maya flopped down on a chair.

“Where to next?” Hanna asked, excitement dancing in her eyes.

“Have you ever been to Beirut?” Maya asked.